Pa-pa-pa-pap en Vleis…

International readers may be looking at this post’s title and wondering:

“What the hell is ‘pap en vleis’”?

Every South African, and it is not a hyperbole when I write that every single one of us, knows exactly what ‘pap en vleis’ is.

‘Pap en vleis’ is a truly South African dish, one that is deeply imbedded in our history.

According to South Africa Tours and Travel (2009), throughout South African history, from the time of the native ‘Khoi’ and ‘San’ people, through to the ‘Great Trek’ and ‘Anglo/Boer War’, ‘pap en vleis’ was a staple and customary dish. This was primarily in part to the fact that settlers at the time were constantly on the move, along with their nomadic and native counterparts.

Subsequently, very few provisions, all none perishables, were taken when moving from one location to the next. One of these primary imperishable’s was ‘pap’, also known as ‘maize meal’. The ‘vleis’ (meat) on the other hand, was often sourced directly from cattle or native game. Innovatively, gathered meat, a perishable, was made imperishable by being cured, dried and cut into slices to be enjoyed at a later time. Today, this is known as ‘Biltong’; the life blood of a true South African!

‘Pap en vleis’ is often served with gravy and ‘boerewors’, a South African made sausage, during a ‘braai’, the South African variant for the term barbeque (‘Pap en Vleis’ picture courtesy of Giuseppe de Filippis).

In mock-honour of our South African heritage, the primarilyAfrikaans radio station, Jacaranda 94.2, created a parody of Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface” tentatively known as Tannie Gogga’s “Pap en Vleis”. I was thinking about saving this little gem for the next Music Monday post, but decided to share it with everyone now. Especially after writing up that whole history lesson above.

So, without further ado, I present to you: Tannie Gogga’s “Pap en Vleis”.

For those who can read or understand Afrikaans, I have also included the lyrics to the song in this post. Simply scroll down, past my Milieu sign off, and hit the link labelled “Read the rest of this entry“.

I hope you have all enjoyed this small taste of South African humour… Well, those of you who can understand it, that is!

4 Comments

Dear Friends!
From may 2009, (insted the old – “nikotev.wordpress.com”)I have a new blog for modern and contemporary world history – “Nikolaykotev’s Blog” with URL: http://nikolaykotev.wordpress.com/ . If you want, you can see it on this adress!
Best wishes
Nikolay Kotev
NEWS: approximately 100 pictures and 1800 photos from the Second World War

About me

Hi, I'm Hans. A Ludologist by education; writer, marketer and ecommerce curator by trade; foodie by nature; and a tech, gadget and gamer geek in my spare time. This blog is where I share my personal thoughts on almost everything and anything.